Autotransplantation is the transplantation of organs, tissues or even proteins from one part of the body to another in the same individual. Tissue transplanted by such "autologous" procedure is referred to as an autograft or autotransplant. It is contrasted with xenotransplantation (from other species) and allotransplantation (from other individual of same species). A common example is when a piece of bone (usually from the hip) is removed and ground into a paste when reconstructing another portion of bone.

Contents

In blood banking terminology, autologous blood donation refers to a blood donation marked for use by the donor, typically for a scheduled surgery. (Generally, the notion of "donation" does not refer to giving to one's self, though in this context it has become somewhat acceptably idiomatic.) They are commonly called "Autos" by blood bank personnel, and it is one major form of the more general concept of autotransfusion (the other being intraoperative blood salvage).

Autologous blood is not routinely tested for infectious diseases markers such as HIV antibodies. In the United States, autologous blood is tested only if it is collected in one place and shipped to another.

There is also a risk that, in an emergency or if more blood is required than has been set aside in advance, the patient could still be exposed to donor blood instead of autologous blood. Autologous donation is also not suitable for patients who are medically unable to or advised not to give blood, such as cardiac patients or small children and infants.

In orthopaedic medicine, bone graft can be sourced from a patient's own bone in order to fill space and produce an osteogenic response in a bone defect. However, due to the donor-site morbidity associated with autograft, other methods such as bone allograft and bone morphogenetic proteins and synthetic graft materials are often used as alternatives. Autografts have long been considered the "Gold Standard" in Oral Surgery and Implant Dentistry because it offered the best regenerations results. Lately, the introduction of morphogen-enhanced bone graft substitutes have shown to show similar success rates and quality of regeneration; however, their price is still very high.